Nuggets come up short on road

Lawson misses shot at buzzer in loss to Raptors

Abused by radiation, George Karl's tone is now gruff and soft. It sounds like it hurts to speak. And that's when he's talking about wins.

And so, it was painful Tuesday to listen to Karl's pain, literally and figuratively, as he said: "This one's even harder for me than the Boston game."

The coach's Nuggets lost on a last-second shot at Toronto, 109-108, about 48 hours after losing the triple-overtime heartbreaker in Boston.

"The Boston game was a classic," Karl said. "But tonight's game you had a lot of guys who don't play much just bust their (butt) for me and the Nuggets. A lot of things were going against us, and we never quit."

Indeed, the Nuggets were down 56 combined points of scoring due to injury or illness, but they hung on during a powerful fourth quarter that featured six 3s from the home team.

But Ty Lawson couldn't pull off a Melo.

It was here, in March of 2010, when Carmelo Anthony hit a game-winner for Denver. This go-around, Denver's point guard took a hand-off from Anthony Randolph near the left wing, down one. But the handoff was fumbled and the defender, that pesky KyleLowery, also got some fingers on the leather. Lawson gathered possession and gathered himself, floating a shot from 17 feet away at the buzzer.

"Man, time slows down," Lawson said of watching the final shot (he made and missed one in the Boston game).

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"The ball either drops in or it doesn't. You either celebrate or you look forward to the next one, so I'm looking forward to the next big shot I can take."

There has been some consternation about Denver down the stretch, ever since Melo forced a trade.

Denver doesn't have a closer, but it's 13-10 in games that have been within three points in the last three minutes, as seen on the NBA.com advanced stats site and reported Tuesday by Grantland.com. Denver is eighth in the league in points per possession in those types of games. And in the last minute of games within two points, Denver's points per 100 possessions, in that sample space, is the league's second-best.

"Ty comes off clean, I think he gets a better shot, but I don't think it's a bad shot," Karl said. "I think everybody in the building knew who was going to take the final shot."

Understandably so. Lawson tallied 29 points and nine assists, the exact amount he had in the Boston loss.

It was pretty incredible that Denver was in the game, considering it was without a quartet of quality. Andre Iguodala (left cervical strain), Danilo Gallinari (sinus infection) and Wilson Chandler (groin) didn't dress, while JaVale McGee played only five minutes before leaving the game with left tibia soreness.

Rudy Gay hit the Melo-y shot. The hot acquisition hit a pull-up baseline jumper, over Corey Brewer, to give the Raptors a 109-108 lead with 4.9 seconds left.

"I think if we have Gallo or Iguodala on him, we might make him miss that shot, I don't know," Karl said. "I know Iguodala made him miss a shot like that in Memphis this year. Corey was there, got bumped off, didn't get a great challenge but got a good challenge. If we had rebounded 2-3 shots earlier, they wouldn't have had that opportunity. One thing I don't think my team understands is the rebound is a huge factor in the last five minutes of a close game."

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